The present invention relates to a locking construction which can be mounted onto an existing valve to prevent unauthorized manipulation thereof.
By way of background, there are certain applications wherein it is desirable that tampering with valves be prevented. One such application is where valves are associated with natural gas supply pipes and a meter located outside of a building. In installations of this type, there is a bypass pipe around the meter. A valve is associated each of the inlet and outlet pipes of the meter to shut off the flow of gas thereto when they are closed. Another valve is located in the bypass pipe to permit the gas to be selectively routed through the bypass pipe when this valve is open to continue gas flow to the building if the valves associated with the meter are closed to permit the meter to be removed for replacement or repair. However, in an installation of this type, it is possible to unauthorizedly bypass the meter by opening the valve in the bypass pipe even though the valves associated with the meter remain open.